“SEXTING: PAUSE B4
U POST”
Boise State University’s Institute for the Study
of Addiction
Ken Coll, PhD
Margaret Sass, JD
(Ed Doctoral student)
Autopornography
& Sexting
Why you should care
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22% of teen girls and 18% of teen boys have posted or electronically sent
semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves
37% of teen girls and 40% of teen boys are sending or posting sexually
suggestive messages
71% of teen girls and 67% of teen boys who have sent or posted sexually
suggestive content say they have sent/posted to a boyfriend/girlfriend
38% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys say they have had sexually
suggestive text messages or emails – originally for someone else – shared
with them
25% of teen girls and 33% of teen boys says they have had nude or seminude images – originally meant for someone else –shared with them.
From The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (Study in
September-October 2008 of 653 teens from ages 13-19)
DISCUSSION QUESTION
1. What is the prevalence of sexting in your school?
2. Do you think you have a sexting problem in your
community?
Click below to view 2.27 minute general info
video on the sexting epidemic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx6VDlPK-o8
Why Teens Post
• 22% of teens say they are personally more forward and
aggressive using sexually suggestive words and images
than they are in “real life”
• 38% of teens say exchanging sexually suggestive
content makes dating and hooking up with others more
likely
• 29% of teens believe those exchanging sexually
suggestive contents are “expected” to date or hook up
• 51% of teen girls say pressure from a guy is a reason
girls send sexy message or images
• 23% of teen girls and 24% of teen boys say they were
pressured by friends to sent or post sexual content
From The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (Study in September-October 2008 of 653
teens from ages 13-19)
Why Teens Post Continued…
• 66% of teen girls and 60% of teen boys say they did so
to be “fun or flirtatious”
• 52% of teen girls did so as a “sexy present” for their
boyfriend
• 40% of teen girls said they sent sexually suggestive
messages or images as “a joke”
• 34% of teen girls say they sent/posted sexually
suggestive content to “feel sexy”
• 12% of teen girls felt “pressured” to send sexually
suggestive messages or images
From The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (Study in September-October 2008 of 653
teens from ages 13-19)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why do teens post in your school?
2. What do you do right now to educate teenagers on sexting?
3. To view survey and use a copy for your school, go to
www.thenationalcampaign.org/SEXTECH/PDF/SexTech_Summ
ary.pdf.
Please click below to view 2.31minute
interview of John Walsh from America’s Most
Wanted discussing sexting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60_ZUIxIMIs
Legal Ramifications
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Federal Law
– 18 U.S.C. §2256: child pornography is defined as any visual depiction,
including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computergenerated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic,
mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct
• Receiving just one picture carries a mandatory minimum sentence
of five years
– 18 U.S.C. §1466A: criminalizes knowingly producing, distributing,
receiving, or possessing with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of
any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture or painting, that
• depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and is
obscene
Idaho Legal Ramifications
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IDAHO: sexting can result in charges of creation, possession and distribution of child
pornography and crimes against a minor (www.about.com)
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IDAHO CODE § 18-1507. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A CHILD
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(1) The legislature hereby finds and declares that the commercial sexual exploitation of
children constitutes a wrongful invasion of the child's right of privacy and results in social,
developmental, and emotional injury to the child; that a child below the age of eighteen (18)
years is incapable of giving informed consent to the use of his or her body for a commercial
purpose; and that to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation it is necessary to
prohibit the production for trade or commerce of material which involves or is derived from
such exploitation and to exclude all such material from the channels of trade and commerce.
IDAHO CODE § 18-1507A(2). POSSESSION OF SEXUALLY EXPLOITATIVE MATERIAL FOR
OTHER THAN A COMMERCIAL PURPOSE -- PENALTY
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(2) Every person who knowingly and willfully has in his possession any sexually exploitative
material as defined in section 18-1507, Idaho Code, for other than a commercial purpose, is
guilty of a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a period not
to exceed ten (10) years and by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($ 10,000).
Other States’ Legal
Ramifications
• Examples of recent State prosectutions
– NEW JERSEY: 14-year-old girl charged with child
pornography and distributing child pornography when she
posted nude pictures of herself on MySpace
(eSchoolNews)
– PENNYSLVANIA: Three high school girls that sent
seminude photos to four male students received child
pornography charges.
– VERMONT: Trying to pass legislation an exemption that
prosectution of 13 to 18-year-olds on either sending or
receiving sext messages so long as sender voluntarily
transmits an image of himself/herself (eSchoolNews)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you think Idaho teenagers are aware of the
legal ramifications of their sexting?
2. Do you think parents are aware of the legal
consequences?
3. What about the awareness of school officials?
Click below on 2 minute news clip about
SEXTING IN IDAHO
'Sexting' Scars
IMing b4 IM rdy:
what teens need to know
• Keep in mind that it’s not private. It’s public.
– Texts and pictures get passed around
• Once posted, it’s permanent
– There’s no “delete” and “turning back”
– Can affect a teenager’s reputation, future schooling, and
self-esteem
• Don’t succumb to peer pressure
• Think before you post. What is the purpose of
posting?
• Anonymous is not a choice. Eventually, it can be
traced.
• Consider Legal ramifications
Empowering parents
• Keep up to date on technology and your child’s
communication
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Twitter
Facebook
MySpace
Blogging
• Keep the computer in the common area of your
home, not in your child’s room
• Talk to other parents
• Talk about “good judgment” with your kids about
posting online or texting (AAP)
Empowering parents
continued...
• Have a policy that you and your child “friend”
each other
– Go to American Academy of Pediatrics website
(www.aap.org) and click on social media tips
• Create strategy for monitoring your kids online
(format monitoring systems)
• Set time limits on the Internet and the cell phone
• Check chat logs, emails, files and social
networking profiles for inappropriate content
periodically.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do your children have an SNS profile (i.e. Facebook,
MySpace, Twitter)?
2. Have you seen them?
3. What can you start doing today to protect your child?
Please click on link to view CBS News Katie
Couric’s 1 minute news clip on sexting:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb1INNBNcApioa1FR6uWFz2AU1Cf1Y4ZlM/
notebook_teen_sexting/
The School’s Role
• Create or enhance a School Code of Conduct
• Create or write it in the School Student Handbook
– For Example: “Sending, sharing, viewing, or possessing
pictures, text messages, e-mails or other material of a
sexual nature in electronic or any other form on a
cellphone or other electronic device is prohibited” –
Mesquite Independent School District
• What other schools have done:
– A Pennyslvania School District may give detention, take
away the phone, and/or have parents brought to school,
and suspension
The School’s Role
continued…
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Education and Support
– Police officer or attorney general presentation – talk about the legal
ramifications of “sexting”
– Create skits with high school students role playing this issue as part of
training for teachers and students
– Create a victim’s panel to talk with kids
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What Idaho State Board of Education says about the school’s role in
monitoring sexting:
– I.D. 33-512A: (6) To prescribe rules for the disciplining of unruly or
insubordinate pupils, including rules on student harassment, intimidation
and bullying, such rules to be included in a district discipline code
adopted by the board of trustees and a summarized version thereof to
be provided in writing at the beginning of each school year to the
teachers and students in the district in a manner consistent with the
student’s age, grade and level of academic achievement.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• What is in place at your school? What are the
consequences?
• What do you do when you find a student
sexting?
• Do you believe more education should be
offered to students about sexting?
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION
• Have your students play out sexting scenarios or
skits that may be happening in the school.
• Ask students to provide examples on what
crosses the line.
• Ask students what they consider “healthy”
behavior.
• Provide students examples of what healthy
behavior is.
References
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American Academy of Pediatrics News Room. Retrieved from http://www.aap.org.
eSchoolnews (2009, April). State consider new ‘sexting’ laws by no one. Retrieved from
http://www.eschoolnews.com.
Humbach, J. (2009, September). “Sexting” and the first amendment. School of Law Pace
Law Faculty Publications. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/596.
im.about.com/od/sexting/g/idahosexting.htm
Idaho Radar Network Center at Boise State University
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/june09socialmedia.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/07/sexting.busts/index.html
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-beat/Area-Schools-Crack-Down-on-Sexting54562562.html
Taylor, R. (2009, April). “Sexting”: fun or felony? Principal Leadership. 9(8), 60-62.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy - Sex and Tech:
results from a survey of teens and young adults (2008, September/October).
www.Kivitv.com
www.youtube.com
COMMUNITY EFFORT
Students
Parents
Teachers
Principals
“We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and
whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life
and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another
that creates something”.
Sandra Day O’Connor